Sight mounting for a gun with a cradle mount



Jan. 22, 1957 H. HERLACH 2,778,277

SIGHT MOUNTING FOR A GUN WITH A CRADLE MOUNT Filed May 2, 1952 INVENTOYL'. Heinrich ATTOVLNESS United States Patent SIGHT MOUNTING FOR A GUN WITH A CRADLE MOUNT Heinrich Herlach, Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to Machine Tool Works Oerlikon, Administration Company, Zurrch-Oerlikon, Switzerland, a Swiss company Application May 2, 1952, Serial No. 285,726

4 Claims. (Cl. 89-41) The present invention relates to gun carriages with vertically pivotable sight mounts connected to the gunners body through a shoulder-rest. In known gun-carriages of this kind there existed the drawback that where a sight with eye piece cup for the gunner was used the movement of the sight did not quite coincide with the head movement of the gunner even where the pivotal point of the sight was arranged at the pivotal point of the nape of the gunners neck. The consequence of this was that at high elevations the sight pressed against the gunners head and thereby hindered the gunner in his aim.

The present invention eliminates this drawback. The device in accordance with the invention is characterized by the fact that the distance between the shoulder-rest and the pivotal point of the sight is automatically increased at high elevations.

In the accompanying drawing an embodiment of the invention is depicted. In the drawing:

Figure 1 shows a gun-carriage in diagrammatic elevational view;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the sight with the shoulder-rest at high elevation; and

Figure 3 is a view of the same sight at maximum elevation.

As shown in Figure 1, the gun-carriage has a tripod 1, a cradle mount 2 and a cradle 3 with weight compensator 4. The gun 5 is mounted in the cradle 3. The gunner sits on the seat 6 and controls the gun in elevation with the aid of the handwheel 7, which acts on the rack segment 8 via a gearing. Control in train is performed freely by the grounded feet of the gunner. The sight arm 9 is movably connected to the cradle mount, said sight arm carrying the sight 11 which is connected to the cradle through the parallelogram rod assembly 10. The shoulder-rest 12 is movably connected by a lever 13 to a lug 15 of the sight mount 9. Between the sight mount 9 and the lever 13 is arranged a tension spring 14. On the bracket 16 of the sight 11 a boss 17 is provided which can engage a face 18 on the lever 13.

The manner in which the boss functions is shown in Figures 2 and 3. The distance between the shoulder-rest and the pivotal point of the sight is constant up to a predetermined elevation, and is designated by the letter a. When the said predetermined elevation is exceeded, the boss 17 comes into contact with the face 18 of the lever 13. If the elevation is further increased, the boss 17, through the face 18, presses the arm 13 with the shoulder-rest 12 downwards against the action of the spring 14 and thereby increases the distance between the shoulder-rest and the pivotal point of the sight to b.

As the shoulder-rest bears firmly against the body of the 'gunner,.the sight arm, together with the sight, is lifted, so that the distance between the gunners face and the sight is increased and aiming can be done with the body in a comfortable posture.

In order to adjust the normal distance a between the shoulder-rest and the pivotal point of the sight a set-screw 19 is provided on the sight arm. The set-screw presses by its point against the arm 13 and is locked by a leaf spring 20 which engages locking teeth 19a of the setscrew. This device enables the distance between the shoulder-rest and the pivotal point of the sight to be adapted to the gunners physique.

What I claim is: g

1. In a gun having a cradle mount and a sight; a sight mount hinged to said cradle mount for rotation about a horizontal axis, said sight being pivoted to said sight mount for elevating movement about afurther axis, a shoulder rest adapted to be carried by a gunner, means movably connecting the shoulder rest with the sight mount and providing a relative movement of the sight mount relatively to the shoulder rest when the shoulder rest is held by the gunner, said sight mount swinging about said horizontal axis during said relative movement, and other means controlling said relative movement depending upon said elevating movement of the sight to increase the distance of said further axis from said shoulder rest with an increase in the elevation of the sight.

2. A gun in accordance with claim 1, wherein said other means comprise a face connected to said shoulder rest and a boss connected to said sight and pressed against said face by the weight of said sight mount, said boss sliding upon said face when said sight is rotated about said further axis.

3. A gun in accordance with claim 2, wherein the firstmentioned means comprise a pivot connecting the shoulder rest with the sight mount. p

4. In a gun having a cradle mount and a sight; a cradle pivoted to said cradle mount for rotation about an axis, whereby said cradle is adapted to carryout an elevating movement, a sight arm hinged to said cradle mount for rotation about the same axis, said sight being pivoted to said sight arm for elevating movement about a further axis which is parallel to the first-mentioned axis, movable means operatively connecting said cradle with said sight, a shoulder rest adapted to be carried by a gunner, means movably connecting the shoulder rest with the sight arm and permitting a swinging movement of the sight arm around the first-mentioned axis when the shoulder rest is held by the gunner, and other means controlling said swinging movement of the sight arm depending upon said elevating movement of the sight to increase the distance of said further axis from said shoulder rest with an increase in the elevation of the sight.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,359,693 Tucker Oct. 3, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 541,130 Germany Jan. 7, 1932 660,267 Germany May 20, 1938 608,044 Great Britain Sept. 9. 1948 

